GOP-backed bill would let board investigate Raffensperger

The State Election Board would gain the authority to investigate Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger under a Republican-sponsored bill.

Senate Bill 358 would also remove Raffensperger, a Republican, as a nonvoting member of the board he once chaired. That power was taken away from Raffensperger in 2021 as part of a wide-ranging election law the GOPled General Assembly passed following Donald Trump’s loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

The legislation comes after the board deadlocked on whether to pursue complaints by conservative activists who blame Raffensperger for human errors in Fulton County’s manual audit of the 2020 election.

The problems, including over 3,000 double-counted and misallocated votes, didn’t change the overall outcome of the statewide audit, which confirmed Biden’s win over Trump.

“It is time for the secretary of state to be held reasonably accountable, like all other elected officials,” said Senate Ethics Chairman Max Burns, a Republican from Sylvania whose committee handles election bills.

Though the State Election Board declined to investigate Raffensperger, it voted unanimously to ask the General Assembly to clarify whether it had the authority to do so.

A spokesman for Raffensperger’s office called the proposal a “complete and total lapse of judgment” but declined to further comment.

House Speaker Jon Burns, a Republican from Newington, also endorsed giving the State Election Board independent oversight of elections.

But he said he didn’t intend to investigate Raffensperger, the state’s chief elections officer.

KATELYN MYRICK/KATELYN.MYRICK@AJC.COM Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, could face investigation by the State Election Board under GOP-sponsored legislation.